Cooking for a crowd at DVC

[PalVal]

My family (7 adults 2 toddlers, 1 infant) is staying at a Grand Villa at BW in November. I'm getting freaked out over cooking for all of them. I was planning on bringing my crock pot. Has anyone brought a crock pot along? How have you prepared in advance for numerous people in in your DVC home? Everyone has agreed to cook 1 meal each, but I know that I will end up doing most of the planning/work. Has anyone used the outside barbecue? If so, where is it located?

 

[mrsR123]

When I hosted a pre-race pasta party in January for 13 people, I shipped down a really big stock pot and colander, the noodles, sauce, parmesan, etc. I then filled the rest of the space in the box with dry cereal and hot cocoa packets.

The crock pot sounds like a great idea.

 

[jennypenny]

I've brought a crock pot before. It's nice to have dinner ready when you get back.

Just remember
*you might be close to a BBQ or far away--that might affect how easy it is to use
*pasta for 8 won't fit in that pot--I'm thinking of bringing down one of those plastic pasta cookers that you just add boiling water to (sorry for poor english--6am here)
*two stouffers' lasagnes in the oven work great with a salad but take a while--send someone back to the room early to get it started
*have salad as your side dish so you're only cooking the main part of the meal
*buy some rotisserie chickens at the market when you get there and use them over salads for lunch and as part of a dinner
*consider having garden grocer deliver groceries twice during your trip instead of once. The refridgerators are small, some food goes bad quickly, and the delivery charge is waived after $200 (if I remember correctly). With 8 people I'm sure you can hit $200 with water bottles and such. Include diapers, laundry soap, and anything else you'll need to get up to the *free* threshold and lighten your packing!
*We had pasta twice and lasagne once (over an 8 night stay) and I thought this would be too much italian food. Well, we were so hungry it didn't matter what we ate. And we had plenty of special snacks and desserts in the park to compensate for the lack of variety at dinner.
*Don't forget pizza is a good backup, especially on the dreaded packing-to-go-home night. I'm sure someone here has the number for Donato's delivery. Call from the bus back to the resort so you don't have to wait long for your pizza

OK, I'm rambling. We just cook a lot on vacation. That's part of the reason we bought into DVC--I like the rooms with the full kitchen. We tried the dining plan on the last trip but it's too much for us (too much eating, too much sitting, too much planning).

 

[spiceycat]

My family (7 adults 2 toddlers, 1 infant) is staying at a Grand Villa at BW in November. I'm getting freaked out over cooking for all of them. I was planning on bringing my crock pot. Has anyone brought a crock pot along? How have you prepared in advance for numerous people in in your DVC home? Everyone has agreed to cook 1 meal each, but I know that I will end up doing most of the planning/work. Has anyone used the outside barbecue? If so, where is it located?

I might consider the DDP at $38.99 per person for adult - this is probably your best bid. then eat at a bunch of buffetts - where everyone gets what they want.

the outside barbeuce is next to the community pool - there are 2 tables - but 2 barbeuces too. So unless you are planning of using both barbeuces you only room to sit 6 people. (okay 4 big people)

 

[snyderla]

For our large group we grilled out 2 times by our quiet pool at OKW and it was wonderful! We swam, ate, and hung out. Sorry I can't help with BWV, we didn't grill out there. I like the crockpot idea, and the pasta and salads idea, those would be great for our family.

 

[wildernessDad]

Cooking sounds too much like work to me. My DW would look at me funny if I even suggested it. I recommend the DDP or the DDE.

 

[LIFERBABE]

We are planning on having all our dinners in for our 3 night Family Reunion.

I ordered a full feast from Honeybaked Ham online during the 50% off deal they had close to Mother's Day. I set it up to be delivered to SSR on our checkin day. Ham, Turkey, potatoes, dressing, etc. This way we will have dinner no matter what time the different groups get there.

I am also going to put in an order at Sam's Club "click to pull" and will get the Stouffers Lasagna's, bread sticks and salad, a cake, and mexican food.

Not everyone is going to the parks so the dining plan wouldnt work for this group. We will have a GV and lots of studios to cook and store food.
We do have a breakfast at Chef Mickey's planned.

We are driving, so I am also taking catered Texas BBQ for the Family Picnic.

 

[RumpleMom]

Betty Crocker dot com has a few easy crock pot beef and pork recipes.

One of our favorites is Salsa Chicken

Spray crock pot with Pam. Add thawed boneless chicken, for 12 breasts use a jar of salsa and rinse the jar with water, I just guess on the amount. Cook on low all day, serve over rice or noodles. One time I forgot the extra water and it still was fine. Go enjoy your day!

 

[nbodyhome]

DDP really gets expensive compared to cooking in (like $300.00 per day in this case).

There are a lot of wonderful crockpot recipes. Lately I've been making items like goulash (VERY easy), Borscht - takes a lot longer to prepare, but makes a ton of food, beef vegetable soup - yum, easy and filling! There are only 2 of us, but I make enough for lots of leftovers (which would easily feed 6 or 8).

Another easy thing - make burgers and broil them in the oven. Chicken basted with olive oil also broils well. Both are quick (you can also broil hot dogs with the burgers). I make my own lasagne - a pan or two at a time, without boiling noodles. Much quicker than the old way.

I found a nice crockpot recipe for a cake that is like...lava cake. Yum!

When we've had a kitchen while travelling, I do tend to use it. We did that in Scotland and saved a lot of $.

 

[Monte Cristo]

We are planning on having all our dinners in for our 3 night Family Reunion.

I ordered a full feast from Honeybaked Ham online during the 50% off deal they had close to Mother's Day. I set it up to be delivered to SSR on our checkin day. Ham, Turkey, potatoes, dressing, etc. This way we will have dinner no matter what time the different groups get there.

I am also going to put in an order at Sam's Club "click to pull" and will get the Stouffers Lasagna's, bread sticks and salad, a cake, and mexican food.

Not everyone is going to the parks so the dining plan wouldnt work for this group. We will have a GV and lots of studios to cook and store food.
We do have a breakfast at Chef Mickey's planned.

We are driving, so I am also taking catered Texas BBQ for the Family Picnic.

Can I join your family????? Wow, that's some gooooooodddd eating !

My whole family is going 12/22 to 12/29 and will be doing a lot of cooking in for dinner as well. I love your honey baked ham idea for dinners and sandwiches.

 

[GGOOFY1]

I have made pans of Lasagna, sloppy joes, tacos and fajitas all for large groups. I was thinking of throwing a turkey in for our next trip. We will have 8 adults in our party.

 

[PalVal]

Thank you for your suggestions, I'll put them to good use! Has anyone ever made meals at home in advance and traveled with them frozen? I'm not even sure I could get through the airport with them.

 

[AInWonderland]

Will you have a car? Last year when we had 29 people together we cooked in a few times (mostly breakfast), we barbequed twice and we ordered out twice. Once from Giordano's pizza (they deliver) and once from Earl of Sandwich.

 

[PalVal]

We are going to use Tiffany Car service and they allow for a grocery stop. My husband hates to drive on vacation, but we may end up renting a car for one day to replenish what we need. The dining plan won't work for us because of the kids/baby schedule. Nothing would be worse than forcing a sit down meal (with a scheduled priority seating time) with a 2 and 3 year old plus a baby! We want to make this a relaxed vacation, and expect to go to the parks every other day, with the other day at the pool. We will plan for a couple meals out (buffets), but it will need to be when everyone is in a happy rested mood! We'll have to take our chances that space will be available for us. That's why I want to be prepared to cook for a crowd. As the mother/grandmother I know that most of the work/planning will fall on my shoulders. I'm happy to do this, I just don't know what works best at DVC for situations like this. I wish I could make some frozen meals ahead of time to carry on the plane in a thermo bag, but not sure they would allow it. We are flying Southwest out of Manchester, NH.